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Digg.com is officially in the market for sale with a price tag of $300 million dollars. One of the most popular social media sites on the net with millions of visitors per month and one of the largest user-generated content sites around, Digg has one of the lmost loyal user followings on the net.

A reliable source just confirmed the company’s plans, noting the company has hired Allen & Company, a tiny but influential private investment firm, to help broker a deal. The asking price is still $300 million, the source said.

We asked Digg founder Kevin Rose about a potential sale, and Allen & Company’s involvement. He told us, unsurprisingly, that “we never comment on things related to acquisitions.”

Digg has recently partnered with the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft, and others making the company more desirable to possible buyers.

It is said that Digg has been in the market for a few months now but it is now being put in the market by Allen & Company who have made mergers and acquistions possible for companies such as Disney, Universal Studios, and many others.

Pablo Palatnik is the author of the blog PalatnikFactor, focusing on all things Online Marketing and Search Engine Optimization specialist for Fortune3, a shopping cart software company by online retailers, for online retailers.

52 thoughts on “Digg.com for Sale : $300 Million”

I have to agree with you, it seems like a very reasonable asking price for Digg.com. NOW, we don’t know Diggs financials (ad revenue, etc.)

I think it’s a smart move by Kevin Rose, he’ll sell the company and probably still be part of the company after the sale.

As an investment (long term), it’s a tricky one, thats why it may not be an easy sell, but you never know, now that its made public, we’ll see who comes around with an offer. If a media company does choose to purchase the site, that can very well change the community around.

Pablo,That’s right what the financials are..though it needs to matter if you have the viral prowess of Digg some other non-monetary factors will play in. Influence. I won’t be surprise if News corp. makes an offer. I’m crossing my fingers.. or google… who knows?-Ianhttp://renohomeblog.com

The purchase of Digg by a media company would not be the best idea…I think that would un-motivate users in the community which can give a sense of manipulation of stories making it to the front page by a media company such as News Corp.

You mentioned Google…one word: ADSENSE. Adsense could very well be a major reason to purchase Digg for them. Also, if Google has been trying to find a way to get more in tune with SM, here is a great chance. $300 is a great price for Google…imagine what the stock would be like if they announce the purchase of Digg, the largest social news voting site on the net. Big money advertising for Google there and a great web property.

MSN…very possible I see them trying to get their hands on this, they already made the advertising deal with Digg which may just be enough for them but its a great opportunity for them to jump on board.

AOL- they’ve been on the hunt for ad networks mostly but this is a great distribution hub if they choose to purchase it, could be great. $300 maybe a lot of money for the company right now but can very well keep the company in shape entering the social space distributing ads.

You know, AOL is not a far off choice for a company to acquire Digg as they have been quite agressive lately and it would fit into their mold quite well, even though they own Propeller.

I’d say Yahoo too because it follows their acquisition trail of the top social brands/services in Flickr and Delicious. However, the dominance of Yahoo News is a factor in this case and Yahoo may not even need Digg.

Fact of the matter is that whomever buys Digg will not be buying their most effective commodity; their userbase.

I could see a media company buying them for $300 million, then the top Diggers jumping ship and forming their own Digg-esque site.

Without the top Diggers and loyal users, would Digg.com hold anywhere near its perceived value? No, it would not.

digg is getting so big that many good information was buried and many interesting but useless info always was digged. In order to find something good, it seems you have to search digg, why not just search google?

300mil might be a high price tag but I think that’s already reasonable considering the userbase and popularity of Digg. It’s all over blogosphere. As Loren has stated, the would-be buyer can simply serve ads in the site and let it run autonomously. Oh yeah, anybody can create another digg-style site(there’s a lot already) but Digg.com will always be Digg.com.